My Favorite Christmas Song of All Time--By Vicky

My Favorite Christmas Song of All Time

Now that Thanksgiving has passed and December is right around the corner, it is appropriate and welcoming to hear Christmas songs blaring cheerfully from cars and in stores.  Suddenly, the decorations that have been up in stores since September aren’t annoying, but beautiful and magical.  And it’s time to begin the Christmas posts on Weekend Fat!  

Despite many people telling me that I’m sort of a weirdo for it, I am going to share with my fellow Weekend Fatties my favorite Christmas song of all time.  It is obscure to just about everyone I’ve ever introduced it to and most people do not find it as charming and magical as I do.  I don’t know if it’s because they just don’t like it, or if it really is bad and I am influenced by childhood nostalgia.  I’m not sure.  But here, on Weekend Fat, for all to see I am making a case for what I consider to be the ultimately best Christmas song.  Like, ever.  

First, I want you to listen to it, please.  Just listen and enjoy, then we’ll get down to the whys and why nots…

Roger Whittaker – Darcy the Dragon

Alright, now you’ve heard it.  My Favorite Christmas Song of ALL TIME!!!  I have to start off by saying that I have listened to this song and Roger Whittaker’s Christmas album since I can remember.  This is my favorite but he also sings “The Holly and the Ivy” beautifully as well as several others with that beautiful voice of his that I can’t help but find charming.  

So to start off, the story within the song itself is such a wonderful Christmas tale.  Darcy just wants to buy some presents for his forest friends.  He is a kind-hearted and helpful dragon who can’t help the flames that spurt out when he speaks.  Then he is granted a Christmas miracle and is able to accomplish what he set out to do as well as make new friends in the village.  How sweet is that?  If it were a Christmas book, people would be reading it to their children.  I would.

Then there’s the music.  There are such wonderful ups and downs to reflect the emotions and events within the lyrics.  It really brings out the story and gives you goose bumps as you listen, especially when Darcy is crying and the wind blows in his throat to put out the fire.  The clip-clop when Darcy goes to town, the Christmas snow whirling and blowing, the joy when Darcy can finally go into town without hurting anyone; they are all amazing moments within the music that evoke responses which are buried in my memory.  I can’t help but have a completely emotional journey with Darcy from his giddy idea, through the village, his utter sadness, the joyful realization, ending in his triumphant return to the town and the success of his voyage.  

I think Roger Whittaker is a large part of this whimsical song.  I really don’t know anything else that he sings besides Christmas gold, but his voice makes it for me.  He has a storyteller’s voice, the highs and lows of the story are beautifully illustrated in his timbre, the decrescendos and crescendos, the way he lilts through the words.  The two parts I love are when he sings “Woe is me, Oh, lament” and reprises it later and “First a whisper, then a shout!”  He doesn’t change his voice for Darcy, but I really feel Darcy the Dragon within him in that moment.  I’m not sure I would like it if I heard anyone else sing this song.  I am, of course, severely biased when it comes to my beloved Darcy.

So there you are, My Favorite Christmas Song of All Time.  I know that it’s obscure and I may be completely alone in adoring this song, but that is alright.  I can only hope that maybe someone else listens to it and finds the beauty and joy that I have in this delightful Christmas story-song.  

What do you think of Darcy the Dragon?  

What is YOUR Favorite Christmas Song of All Time?